Insurance carriers are not expected to use new Cal Fire maps to set insurance rates, though

By Craig Lazzeretti

Managing editor

Tuesday, April 15 (2:00 p.m.): Contra Costa Fire Protection District Chief Lewis Broschard wasted no time addressing the proverbial elephant in the room during a public meeting on April 1 on newly released Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps for communities throughout the state.

No, the maps issued by Cal Fire categorizing wildfire hazard levels for “literally every square mile of the state” shouldn’t affect anyone’s insurance rates, Broschard said.

Though the new maps place specific locations, down to individual parcels, in hazard categories of moderate, high or very high (or none at all), they are not as sophisticated as the proprietary maps used by insurance companies to set rates, which factor in not only physical hazards but the overall risk of a home being destroyed in a wildfire, which can be reduced through a variety fire-mitigation efforts (which have been significant in Rossmoor), as well as hardening homes through measures such as “defensible space,” utilizing fire-resistant materials and ember guards, and building codes.

That may come as a relief to some homeowners in Rossmoor who live in moderate or high hazard zones (none of Rossmoor falls in the very high category). Residents can find the category where their home lies by searching for their address through the fire district’s online tool at https://tinyurl.com/56xhxe2m

Ken Johnson, vice president of A.J. Gallagher and Co., Rossmoor’s insurance broker, confirmed that that insurance carriers already have more powerful tools at their disposal than the new maps Cal Fire has produced.

“The new Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZ) maps highlight areas at risk of wildfires but are not as sophisticated as the models used by global property insurance companies, such as AIR Worldwide/Verisk and RMS from Moody’s,” he said. “Uncertainty is a key aspect of risk modeling, requiring careful consideration of the quality and completeness of exposure data and the interpretation of model results.”

Johnson also noted that “wildfire modeling often does not account for wind, which can significantly influence the spread and intensity of fires, further highlighting the limitations of these maps compared to more comprehensive models.”

During his presentation April 1 in Martinez, Broschard emphasized that residents who live in a zone not categorized as moderate, high or very high should not be complacent about doing what they can to protect their homes, noting that there is no way to predict where a wildfire will travel, and that even urban areas are susceptible to destruction – citing the example of Altadena during the Southern California wildfire catastrophe.

“Your house has to be able to stand alone,” he said. “It can be done. It is possible, but it takes various things to mitigate your property. It behooves all of us to continue to create defensible space and home hardening even if you’re in not in one of these zones.”

Only homes in the very high hazard zones are required to undergo annual “defensible space” inspections by their local fire agency, which, generally speaking, refers to creating a buffer around homes by removing combustible vegetation and other materials that could easily ignite. However, such an inspection also must be performed by owners of homes in the high zones when selling their property, with the results disclosed to the buyer. In that regard, the new maps could impact home sellers and buyers in the “high” hazard zones of Rossmoor.

Compared with the original maps completed from 2007 to 2009, some areas of Rossmoor were elevated from moderate to high, while others were downgraded. Public Safety Manager Tom Cashion noted that the area north of Running Springs Road to Rossmoor’s north border were downgraded from high to a moderate severity zone, “which is a good thing for us.”

A mapping tool comparing changes in the maps from then until now can be found at the following link: https://tinyurl.com/jud99uz7

One thing that should benefit Rossmoor residents, and GRF as a whole, in keeping insurance rates as low as possible, given the inherent wildfire risks of living here, is its status as a Firewise community. The designation shows that a community is working to implement fire-safety measures that individual residents can take to make their homes safer. Rossmoor’s Firewise Committee, manned by resident volunteers and coordinated by Director of Mutual Operations Jeroen Wright, has received formal recognition for 2025 by the national Firewise organization.

Some speakers at the April 1 ConFire meeting noted that they had already secured insurance discounts through Firewise, and Rossmoor resident Dwight Walker, a GRF director, also has reported receiving a 2% wildfire mitigation discount on his personal property insurance policy as a result of Rossmoor being a Firewise community.

The “proactive stance” of adopting Firewise “has made Rossmoor more attractive to underwriters, who value comprehensive risk-reduction measures when assessing and pricing insurance policies,” Gallagher said. Such efforts are particularly important, he said, given the fact Rossmoor is “a community of older wood-frame construction, mostly not equipped with fire sprinklers, and located in a high fire risk area in California.”

Fire-mitigation initiatives have been ramping up both within the Mutuals and properties controlled by GRF. “Mutuals are actively working on removing flammable materials from their building’s defensible zones,” Wright said. “GRF actively works on removing fuels as well.”

He added that many of the Mutuals are investigating home-hardening efforts such as upgrading building vents and deck screening to repel flying embers.

GRF also points out in letters to insurance carriers the various mitigation efforts it has undertaken in recent years, including:

• Working with ConFire to secure a $3.1 million grant for a fire fuel break around 90% of Rossmoor’s property. This will help prevent any outside fires from entering Rossmoor.
• Exceeding the county fire department’s recommended 50 feet to 100 feet of defensible space.
• Entering a contract to use goats to reduce grasslands.
• Using Nixle to notify residents of red flag warning days and any other dangers.

“GRF is a good risk based on all the efforts, and carriers want to be on our program,” GRF General Manager Jeffrey Matheson said. “Firewise and other efforts keep Rossmoor in good standing.”

Broschard told audience members at the public meeting on the hazard maps that mitigating fire risks will continue to be a focus of his agency’s work with local communities, as the threat of wildfires is only expected to grow in coming years. The April 1 presentation noted that one of every eight acres in California has burned in the past 10 years, with 173 lives lost and over 43,000 structures destroyed.

“The data out there is not bright when it comes to the next five- to 10-year period,” Broschard said. “It suggests to us that we’re going to see more fires, not less.”

With new regulations anticipated from Sacramento to address the ongoing threat, Broschard added that “there is a lot of alignment that needs to occur if collectively we’re going to be successful in reducing the fire hazard in Contra Costa County.” He noted that competing policy priorities, such as reducing fire hazards while preserving and planting trees as part of environmental initiatives, have at times provided challenges in that regard.

While the public will have an opportunity to provide public comment on the Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps until early May, Broschard emphasized that ConFire had no input in creating the maps for areas subject to local fire response, and is required by state law to adopt them within 120 days of the date they were published, which was Feb. 24 in Contra Costa County.

State law also prevents ConFire from reducing the severity levels of any of the zones. While the fire district could request that severity levels be increased in areas it deemed appropriate, Broschard said it has no plans to make any such requests.

Residents interested in providing comment on the maps can do so at the following link: www.cccfpd.org/lra-maps/